School district said to face major Title I cut

MIAMI – South Florida school districts stand to lose millions of dollars if proposed Title I amendments pass when Elementary and Secondary Education Act legislation (H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act) comes to the floor of the U.S. House floor this week, Miami-Dade County Public Schools have warned.

“The proposed amendments would severely impact K-12 education and disproportionately harm Florida’s large school districts,” a statement said. The statement said it is estimated Florida will lose more than $107 million in Title I funds for low-income, with South Florida school districts alone losing about $45.6 million. The proposed legislation would cut funding from school districts with large numbers of students in poverty and redistribute that money to school districts around the country. The statement said Miami-Dade, with the most Title I eligible students in the state, stands to lose $25.4 million for fiscal year 2014. Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, provides financial assistance to districts and schools with the highest numbers of children from low-income families. The Miami-Dade statement said Title I is grounded on sound research: economic disadvantages and concentrated poverty correlate with student academic needs and require enrichment services to achieve K-12 standards. “Cuts that target areas of greatest need, following hard upon the federal sequester and lingering state/local recessionary cuts, will inevitably compromise student achievement,” the statement said. The statement dubbed the proposed legislative move “Ill-advised,” saying it would “immediately cut services in eligible schools and ultimately reduce graduation rates, weaken our cities and workforce outcomes and add to the public tax burden rather than strengthening our economic competitiveness.” The Miami-Dade district is urging Floridians to make their views known to Gov. Rick Scott, the Commissioner of Education Tony Bennett and the House and Senate Leadership, along with Florida members of Congress.